House fire another blow to Charlton family reeling from daughter's stroke

Thursday

Mar 27, 2014 at 6:42 PMMar 28, 2014 at 8:55 AM

By Debbie LaPlaca CORRESPONDENT

CHARLTON — While investigators worked Thursday to determine the cause of an accidental fire that destroyed the Karas home at 44 A.F. Putnam Road, the family was sifting through the ashes looking for anything salvageable.

Living in the home, and present when the fire started, were owners Charles and Jane Karas, their 28-year-old daughter, Juliann Karas, and their 8-year-old granddaughter, Athena.

He arrived nine minutes later to find the garage engulfed in flames. Four minutes later, the first Charlton firetruck arrived.

With no municipal water available, the three-alarm fire was extinguished about 50 minutes after the 911 call with water trucked to the site.

Wednesday night, Lt. Brian Ouellette, lead fire investigation officer for the department, said the two-story Colonial was a total loss and uninhabitable.

"It is an accidental fire so it's not suspicious in nature at all. We're currently looking at a heating appliance and the investigation is continuing," Lt. Ouellette said Thursday.

The Karases' daughter Kristin Raymond drove from her home in Albany, N.Y., to Charlton Wednesday night.

Speaking to a reporter from a mobile phone while walking through the house, Ms. Raymond said, "We're going through the ashes right now, looking for anything salvageable. We really haven't found anything."

Ms. Raymond said all was lost in what was the childhood home of her and her three sisters, Beth, Pam and Juliann. Mr. and Mrs. Karas also lost their cars, which were parked in the garage, where the fire started.

"I think my mom is still in shock," Ms. Raymond said. "I think that with everything that happened with the stroke, this was the breaking point."

Juliann suffered a debilitating stroke on Dec. 10. On a Facebook page titled "Juli's Journey," her sister Beth recounted the morning of her stroke.

"After three days of having a stiff neck, and not feeling 'quite right,' Juli was driving home from work and suddenly lost her peripheral vision and felt numbness and tingling in her right arm. She called her mother and the doctor and went home for the day."

She was found later on the bathroom floor. Hospital tests determined the 27-year-old had suffered a tear in the inner lining of the vertebral artery, which supplies blood to the brain.

Late in February, after more than three months of rehabilitation to regain her ability to walk and speak, the single mother was sent home to her parents' house, where her daughter, Athena, was living.

Neighbor Melissa Borgeson was driving by Wednesday when she noticed the smoke and flames.

"The garage was fully involved and there were a lot of booms and bangs from the garage," she said.

The first firetruck had not yet arrived but the family was safe in the front yard, being comforted by neighbor Felice Kleya, whose house across the street had been damaged in a three-alarm fire six weeks earlier.

"We went out that night and brought Athena some clothing and a backpack," Ms. Borgeson said. "They don't know what they need yet. They are overwhelmed by it all."

Ms. Raymond said folks from Heritage School dropped off clothing for Athena, a second-grader, Thursday morning.

"Prayers are what we need right now," Ms. Raymond said. But those wishing to help the family can donate via www.gofundme.com/5t80kw a website established to help with Juli's medical expenses.

Assistant Chief Meskus said wind, manpower and water were the challenges faced in combating the fire.

Wind was a factor in spreading the fire from the garage to the adjoining kitchen and roof. Fifteen firefighters were needed off the first truck to combat a fire that size, he said; there were five. And firefighters ran out of water three times when truck stores were exhausted before the next truck carrying water arrived.

Mutual aid was received from Auburn, Dudley, Oxford, Leicester, Webster EMS and Southbridge.

Ms. Raymond said the family is staying with relatives.

Insurance company inspectors were at the home Thursday morning but it was too early to value the loss.

According to town records, the home was built in 1992 and was most recently valued at $206,800.

Lt. Ouellette said there was no connection between the two recent fires on A.F. Putnam Road.

"They are independent fires. The only connection is they happened to be across the street from each other," he said.